Hello All,
I do hope my readers had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was spent around the pool at my sisters home in Brisbane. A warm day - not too hot, just perfect for such a merry day. Carmel's only request was that everyone bring a water pistol and this set the tone for the day, along with a game of backyard cricket, water slide and of course lots of lovely food. She actually met all her visitors (there were about 20 of us there for lunch) with her version of a mango slushie, and I can recommend them. Simply, take a container of Mango Sorbet (she used Weiss brand) and a bottle of (not expensive) bubbly, mash the sorbet with a potato masher and mix with the bubbly and serve. Delicious! A great way to start Christmas in Australia.
Gifts were exchanged and opened next. Only Carmel could get away with it, but her gifts were mostly regifted ones! She had visited Emerald only the week before Christmas to spend the weekend helping our Mum and Dad who have sold their home here and are moving to a Retirement Village in Cooroy (Sunshire Coast). Going from their 5 bedroom home of nearly 40 years to a small 2 bedroom home is taking some doing, but Carmel selected many items to bring home with here that she decided would make great gifts for her guests (these were no treasures, only what remained after a garage sale).
This caused much amusement for all the recipients and Carmel, yes we were all impressed with the thoughtfulness you put into each and every gift and look forward to many more Christmas occasions where we will be able to reciprocate in kind!
On a more serious note, I was delighted to finally be able to open the remaining two parcels sent to me by Satu in the SSCS swap. I love them, thank you, thank you, thank you to Satu for making such delightful gifts and sending them all the way from Finland, and to Donna, alias Chookyblue in Australia for organising the swap..
First parcel
A beautiful little quilt, hand appliqued and quilted, made from some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. It is delightful and will be proudly hung in my sewing room.
Second parcel
A lovely little purse, complete with my name embroidered on it. I have alread filled it with my favourite scissors and a few threads from the applique project I am currently working on.
My gifts are lovely and certainly make me feel special! I have emailed Satu to thank her, she clearly is a busy lady who loves all things craft. Satu has a gorgeous blog, so please be sure to have a look - Satu's Blog.
So now it's 2012. Do you have any plans or resolutions? As always I have a few, although I refuse to call them resolutions. As always, I'd really like to finish some of the projects I am currently working on and I'm actually hoping to slow down a little and stay home more! But it won't happen in January - I'm off to Brisbane/Cooroy next week to move Mum & Dad, then I'm home for 4 days AND THEN Melanie (daughter) & I are taking our first ever trip overseas!... We are going to Japan for 10 days. We have a lot planned to fit into the 10 days, the highlight of which is the Tokyo International Quilt Festival. However, if anyone has any suggestions of things to do, places to see while we are in Japan, please let me know. It's all very, very exciting!
I'm off to do some work, I do wish everyone a Very Happy and Prosperous Year for 2012 and look forward to continuing to stay in contact via my Blog.
Regards, Bev
I do hope my readers had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was spent around the pool at my sisters home in Brisbane. A warm day - not too hot, just perfect for such a merry day. Carmel's only request was that everyone bring a water pistol and this set the tone for the day, along with a game of backyard cricket, water slide and of course lots of lovely food. She actually met all her visitors (there were about 20 of us there for lunch) with her version of a mango slushie, and I can recommend them. Simply, take a container of Mango Sorbet (she used Weiss brand) and a bottle of (not expensive) bubbly, mash the sorbet with a potato masher and mix with the bubbly and serve. Delicious! A great way to start Christmas in Australia.
Gifts were exchanged and opened next. Only Carmel could get away with it, but her gifts were mostly regifted ones! She had visited Emerald only the week before Christmas to spend the weekend helping our Mum and Dad who have sold their home here and are moving to a Retirement Village in Cooroy (Sunshire Coast). Going from their 5 bedroom home of nearly 40 years to a small 2 bedroom home is taking some doing, but Carmel selected many items to bring home with here that she decided would make great gifts for her guests (these were no treasures, only what remained after a garage sale).
This caused much amusement for all the recipients and Carmel, yes we were all impressed with the thoughtfulness you put into each and every gift and look forward to many more Christmas occasions where we will be able to reciprocate in kind!
On a more serious note, I was delighted to finally be able to open the remaining two parcels sent to me by Satu in the SSCS swap. I love them, thank you, thank you, thank you to Satu for making such delightful gifts and sending them all the way from Finland, and to Donna, alias Chookyblue in Australia for organising the swap..
First parcel
A beautiful little quilt, hand appliqued and quilted, made from some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. It is delightful and will be proudly hung in my sewing room.
Second parcel
A lovely little purse, complete with my name embroidered on it. I have alread filled it with my favourite scissors and a few threads from the applique project I am currently working on.My gifts are lovely and certainly make me feel special! I have emailed Satu to thank her, she clearly is a busy lady who loves all things craft. Satu has a gorgeous blog, so please be sure to have a look - Satu's Blog.
So now it's 2012. Do you have any plans or resolutions? As always I have a few, although I refuse to call them resolutions. As always, I'd really like to finish some of the projects I am currently working on and I'm actually hoping to slow down a little and stay home more! But it won't happen in January - I'm off to Brisbane/Cooroy next week to move Mum & Dad, then I'm home for 4 days AND THEN Melanie (daughter) & I are taking our first ever trip overseas!... We are going to Japan for 10 days. We have a lot planned to fit into the 10 days, the highlight of which is the Tokyo International Quilt Festival. However, if anyone has any suggestions of things to do, places to see while we are in Japan, please let me know. It's all very, very exciting!
I'm off to do some work, I do wish everyone a Very Happy and Prosperous Year for 2012 and look forward to continuing to stay in contact via my Blog.
Regards, Bev
I'm just going back thur some starred posts and found this one of yours..........beautiful gifts that you received in the SSCS.....hope you had a great time in Japan.........
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